Asia’s US trade deals in doubt after Trump’s Supreme Court tariff defeat

A Supreme Court ruling that gutted the legal foundation for much of US President Donald Trump’s tariff regime has left Asian trading partners scratching their heads about the future of trade deals struck with Washington over the past 12 months.America’s apex court ruled on Friday that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) – which Trump had used to impose sweeping “reciprocal” tariffs since his “Liberation Day” proclamation last April – did not grant the president the power to levy such duties.Trump responded within hours by invoking Section 122 of the 1974 Trade Act to impose a blanket 15 per cent tariff on all US imports: the maximum permitted under that statute, which allows the president to act unilaterally for up to 150 days without congressional approval.Shipping cranes stand above container ships at the Port of Los Angeles in the US on Friday. Photo: Getty Images/AFPBut this whiplash-inducing pivot has left several Asian nations questioning whether the trade deals they hammered out with Washington over the past year are even worth the paper they were written on.Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Bangladesh and Pakistan are among the countries who had accepted US import tariffs of between 19 to 20 per cent in exchange for relief from threatened steeper duties.“My sense is that Asian partners will be reluctant to request renegotiation of their trade deals, fearing that they might end up worse off,” said Wendy Cutler, senior vice-president at the Asia Society Policy Institute and a former acting deputy US Trade Representative.India hits pauseThe caution has been most visible in India. New Delhi has postponed a trade delegation to Washington set for this week that had been expected to finalise an interim agreement announced earlier this month.